Multifrequency oscillation



Jan. l0, 1950 MULTIFREQUENCY Filed June 26, 1946 A. G. MANKE Fig. I.

OSCILLATION GENERATING SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hs Attorney Jan. 10, 1950 A. G. MANKE MULTIFREQUENCY-0SC1LLAT10N GENERATING SYSTEM Filed Jun- 26, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 wm, on ta DM eG. J mh HIS Attorneyl Filed June 26, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 kblkb rwentor" Arthur G. Mani/ie,

His Attorney.

Patented Jan. 10, 1950 UNITED. sTATEs PATENT OFFICE MULTIFREQUENCYr OSCILLATION I GENERATING SYSTEM Arthur G.- Manko, Syracuse, N. Y., assigner to,

General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application June 26, 194.6, Serial No. 679,348

(Cl. Z50-36) 2 Claims.

This inventlon'relates'to oscillation generators vand more'particula-rly to generatorsv capable of producing oscillations-having any-one of aL plurality of pre-established frequencies.

It is an object of this invention to provide an vide anoscillation,generatorcapable-of producing a large number of'different frequencies spaced over a predetermined"frequency band and yet requiring only a small numberr of frequency establishing elements'.

Still another object of this` invention is to provide an oscillation generator capable of producing oscillations` having any one of 'a plurality of pre-selected frequencies and at. the same time having a negligible amount of other frequency componentsv andfahigh degree of frequency stability.

In addition it is anv object of this invention to provide an oscillation. generatorwhich may be adjusted to produce oscillations having any one of a large number of frequencies and yet requires.y

only a small number `of resonantcircuit elements suchv as inductances, condensers, and the like.

rlhe novel feat-ures'which I believe to be characteristic` of my invention are set forth with particularityin the: appended claims. My invention itself, however, both asto its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following descrip'- tion taken in connection with the accompanying.

drawings in which Fig. 1 representsin block form thev basic elements of a lsystem' embodying my irivention: Fig. 2" shows amore detailed diagram of a portion ofthe circuits used in this embodiment of myinvention and Fig. 3 showsan alternate embodiment thereof.

Referring to Fig. 1,'I have shown atl a group of frequency control elements, such as high 'Q resonant circuitsorl piezo-electric crystals. The natural frequency of` oscillation of each of these elements is equal to a base frequency,y designated for purposes of reference as frequency f, plus an integral multiple of. the frequency interval between the oscillations.,desiredto be produced,

hereincesignated as AL.- Anyone of 'these fre-f,

-oscillations having output frequencies equal to quency determining elements may bec'onnected to oscillator 2 to produce oscillations havingv a corresponding frequency value. Hence `the out'- put frequency `of oscillatorZ may be selected as f, f-l-Af, f-i-Znf, f-1-3Afyandfsoon, dependingl on the total number-:of frequency `control elements used.

A further frequency control element is shown at 3', Fig. 1. The. frequency of this element is equal to unf, where nis the'number of elements in unit l, thus lprovidingoscillations of the frequency equal to the frequency-dilferencenextin vprogression after the lastv element of `unit l. In

one embodiment of this invention designedto produce frequencies from 116,100 kc...to. 129,900 kc. in 200 ke. steps, the frequency control elements at I permit oscillator 2 to operate at 3100 kc., 3300 kc., 3500 kc., 3700 kc., and 3900v kc., and the frequency determining element 3 is chosen to. have natural frequency'of 5. 200 kc.. or 1000 kc.

vOscillator' 4 produces'oscillations of frequency determined `by element 3, theseoscillations being converted to a multiple of this frequency by multiplier 5. In the above-mentioned embodiment-of this invention, for instance, these multiples are adjustable from 1 to 14 thereby providing at the output of multiplier 5= frequenciesof 1000 kc., 2000 kc., 3000 kc., 4000kc., etc., .up to 14,000 kc.

Oscillations from oscillator 2. and'multiplier `5 are applied to mixer 6. This unit produces beat the sum of these two frequencies and the difference between these Vtwo frequencies. The difference frequencies are suppressed and the sum frequencies accentuated bytuned circuits in mixer t, these circuits'being tuned in'accordance with the selected frequencies from: oscillator 2 and multiplier 5 in a manner described in detail hereafter.

Inasmuch as the voutput of mixer 6 is of frequency lcorresponding to. the sum of lthe frequency of oscillator 2 and multipliera large number of frequency'values maybe chosen by appropriate choice of operating frequencyiofthese` units..- For each value of .frequency from multiplier Vii, there exist a number of valuesof frequency of oscillator '2, this number'beinglequal'to the numberv of l frequencies of 4100 kc.,v 4300 kc., 4500 kc., 4700 kc., 'and 4900 kc.; asv the `frequency of oscillatonz lis varied over the available frequency range. With multiplier 5 set to produce oscillations having frequency of 2000 kc., mixer E produces frequencies of 5100 kc., 5300 kc., 5500 kc., 5700 kc., and 5900 kc., in accordance with the setting of oscillator I. Similar frequencies may be produced from other settings of multiplier 5, the maximum frequency being 17,900 kc. corresponding to the maximum frequencies of multiplier 5 and oscillator 2. Hence, oscillations varying in frequency from 4100 kc. to 17,900 kc. in 200 kc. steps may be obtained from mixer B.

Oscillator 8, having frequency is determined by frequency control element 'I is provided to increase the frequency Values between which the choice of frequency from mixer 6 is obtained. Oscillations from this oscillator and from mixer 6 are applied to mixer 9 which produces sum and diierence frequency components in the same manner as mixer 6. The frequency of oscillator 8 is chosen of value to cause-the diiference fre- ;quency components to be very low in frequency .as compared to the lowest frequency from mixer :9, thereby permitting use of a simple filter in mixer 9 to eliminate these frequencies and ac- :centuate the desired sum frequencies.

In the case of the above-described embodiment of my ainvention, for instance, the frequency of oscilla- 1tions from mixer 6 varies from 4100 kc. to 17,900

kc. whereas frequency f3 is 20,000 kc. The maximum difference frequency then is 15,900kc. and 'the minimum value of sum frequency 24,100 kc., :a value that permits easy separation of the difzference frequency components by a tuned cirfcuit in mixer 9.

The frequency of oscillations from mixer 9 is The In'the embodiment of this invention described `above, multiplier I2 produces output frequency of 92,000 kc. so that the minimum sum frequency Ioutput from mixer I is 116,100 kc. and the `maximum sum frequency output from mixer I0 is 129,900 kc, Since the corresponding difference frequenci-es are 67,900 kc., and 54,100 kc., it is evident that a resonant circuit in mixer I0 may be set to pass this range of sum frequencies and to suppress the difference frequencies to a negligible value.

The above described embodiment of this in- -vention is intended for use as part of a calibrated superheterodyne receiver having a 8000 kc.` intermediate frequency and tuning from 108.1 mc. to 121.9 megacycles 'in .200 kilocycle steps. rIn this system, mixer'I, multiplier 5, and oscil- -lator 2, are tuned simultaneously in a mannerdescribed in detail hereafter. Mixer 9, mixer I3, and the radio frequency amplifiers of the receiver are likewise tuned simultaneously, mixer 9 and mixer I3 being located near the radio frequency amplifiers, Inasmuch as the tuning of mixers I 9 and I 3 and the radio frequency amplifiers of the receiver need only be relatively rough, this tuning needs only to be adjusted to an approximate degree as signals of different frequencies are received and the principal lfrequency selection is that associated with tuning oscillator 2, multiplier 5, and mixer 6 by the separate control provided for that purpose.

Having described generally the basic cornponents of a source of oscillations embodying the principles of this invention, a more detailed description of the portion oi the circuits including units I, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 will now be made with reference to Fig. 2. In that figure, oscillator 2 is of the conventional type using triode electron discharge device I4. The control electrode of this device is arranged to be connected to any one of piezo-electric crystals i5 by switch I6. The anode .of device I4 may likewise be connected to any one of resonant circuits I'I by selector switch IS, the resonant frequency of each of these circuits corresponding to that required for best operation of the corresponding crystal I5. By simultaneously rotating switches I6 and I8, oscillator 2 may befadjusted to produce oscillations of frequency deter-mined by any one of crystals I5. Grid bias for device-l4 is provided by capacitor I9 and resistance 20 and space path voltage from capacitor 2I and unidirectional voltage source 22.

Oscillator 4 is of conventional construction utilizing the triode section of electron discharge device 23 and frequency determining piezoelectric crystal 24. Space path potential for this section of device 23 is derived from unidirectional voltage source 25 and capacitor v26. Resistance 21 and capacitor 28 provide grid bias for device 23. Tuned circuit 29 is adjusted-for best performance of crystal 24, the resonant frequency of this circuit being very nearly equalto the resonant frequency of crystal 24.

Multiplier 5 utilizes the pentode section of electron discharge device 23, receiving control electrode voltage from connection with the control electrode of the triode section of that device. Resonant circuit 30 in the anode circuit of this section of device 23 is tuned to the frequency of crystal 24 thereby to limitv voltage of this frequency in the output of multiplier 5. Selector switch 3| permits choice of any one of resonant circuits 32. Each resonant circuit 3-2 corresponds in resonant frequency to a harmonic of crystal 24 between the first and the fourteenth, the harmonics increasing progressively as switch 3i is changed from position 1 to position 14. When switch 3| is in position 1, the resonant circuit 32 is tuned to the frequency of crystal 24. In this case the fundamental frequency voltage in the multiplier divides between resonant circuits 30 and 32, the latter being designed to have voltage comparable in magnitude to that -obtained with switch 3| set to produce higher harmonics.

At all other settings of switch 3I, resonant circuit 30 merely filters out the fundamental frequency voltage in the corresponding resonant circuit 32. Screen grid potential for the pentode section of device 23 is derived from unidirectional voltage source 33 and condenser 34 whereas anode potential is derived from unidirectional voltage source 35 and condenser 36.

Each portion of resonant circuit 32 is coupled to a. correspondingly tuned portion of resonant circuit 31 so that selection of the proper circuit by selector switch 38 permits the control electrode of mixer electron discharge device 39 to receive oscillations of the desired frequency from multiplier 5. oscillations from oscillator 2 are fed to the injector electrode of device 39 through resistor-40 and capacitors 4I and 42, thus causing the space `currentof, that device.;to;varyin acthis cordance with oscillations. fromy both .-.oscillator..z2 andfmultiplier 5.V

n Switches 43land '44 are arranged topermittum ing of the anode..y circuit of.' device-Sesto -approximate resonance'. with the desired sunrfor difference frequency between; oscillations from unit 2 and. unit 5.. To thisend, switch 4'4- per.- mits choice of anyone. ofinductances: 46.011.416a. While switch 43 permits-choice of anyone capaci tor 45 in series with the chosen inductance 4.5. As will be described in further detailA hereaftersthe values of these inductances;andcapacitances are so chosen that rotation of switch 43 causes a resonant. frequency Lchange corresponding'. tothe frequency change associated; with choice. of suce cessive crystals l5 by switch;Y t6 end irotationrof switch 44 causes a resonantfrequencychange cor;- responding toS that associated with-choice offsuccessive harmonics of. crystal 24 byswitchesaill and 38. Control electrode bias. voltage'fordevice is ,obtained fromiresistance'4`1 and'. capacitor 48e; screen electrode voltage isf obtained` from; unidirectional .voltage-source49- and capacitor 50; and anode voltage from-unidirectional; voltage; source 5|, capacitor 52 and radio2 frequencyl choke coil The resonant circuit'inthe. anodexci-rcuitof. def vice 39 may be viewed asv consisting of capaci.- tor 45a having in'parallelany oneeof-a plurality of separate inductance-capacitycombinations.` At the relatively high frequencies corresponding to. positions 5 to 14 of switches 3| and 38 the proportional frequency changeassociated .with operation of switches l5- and |.8- is not suliiciently great to affect the output; of mixer 6^. In this Vre gion it is therefore unnecessaryto change-the4 effective inducta-nce in. parallel with capacitor. 45a as the various crystals-l5 are selected; Hence, switches i6 and Imay be placed in position` 3 and inductances 45a adjusted. for best resonanceSwi-th capacitance 45a and substantial resonance will then exist at other positions of switchesrlf and .l-a.

When switches 3l anda38` are `in positions 1 to 4, the desired output frequency of-.mixer 6- isso low that choice of` successi-ve crystals-l5causes-- av substantial percentage frequency change. and-.a correspondingly large detun-ing, error. and .variation in output. voltage unless the anode circuits. of device 39 are correspondingly tuned. Within region, capacitors 45 are successively switched in the circuit as the. position of switch 43. is changed. With vswitches 16,7141,A and. 43. in Iposition 3 and a reasonable value ofcapacitor45,

the succes-sive. values. of inductance. 4.6' may. then be. chosen to. cause resonanceas. switches. 31.,.38,

and 44 are changed. Then With'switches il, 38,`

and. 44 in` position 2 or position, the. values of condensers 45- at positions 1, 2, 4,- and 5 of switch 43 may be adjusted to cause resonance at thede.-

sired frequency of, output from mixer 6.- With.

these adjustments.: other combinations of Yposi.- tions of switchesv 43` and 44.7Will bevfound: topre# .duce substantial resonance-in. the circuit of 1 de.-

scale for the reason that the resonant. frequency f change associated: with the changey incapacitance between successive positions of" switch 43 may beto an undesiredzharmonic applied. todevicel. In the. above-described embodiment; oithis.'

.vent-ion-,g forv example, suedessine.ilngirrnonics of:

6 crystal 24.-are-'onlyr1000 kc.'V apart and, despite the lteringv action of the circuits 32v and 31., theoscililations actually applied todevice 39 contain a substantial: proportion-of harmonics adjacent to the harmonicfor which these circuits are tuned.

With condensers' 4,5 chosen for reasonably accurate tuningin the low frequency range, the values thereof may. readily cause a difference of 1000 lrc. from. position of .switch 43 and position 1 or .10.

5f. when. a. high harmonic of crystal 24 is chosen by switchesf3l and.38.'. The circuit of Fig. 2 avoids this. possibility' by causing switch 43. to be effective only in the lowfrequency range of the system:

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the-switches l6,' l8and. 43 may be` mounted on a common shaft so that rotation of that shaft alters their positionssimultaneously, Similarly, switches V3 l, 38, 'and 44y may be arranged for simultaneous operation by mounting them on a commonA shaft. If,` in addition, the two shafts are mechanically arranged so that each rotation of switches I6, I8, and 43 over the live possible positions causes. switches 3l, 38 and 44 to move one position, rotation of: the single shaft associated with switches I6, l8.,. and 43 then causes the frequency of oscillations from lmixer 6 to increase in 2.00- kc.. steps from one end of the desired frequency range to the other.

A'further feature of the embodiment of this invention shown in Fig. 1 resides in choice of the frequency of control element 1 and oscillator 8, Fig. 1, to provide a maximum suppression of difference frequencies inthe oscillations from mixer 9. While inthe specific embodiment of this invention described in detail herein, satisfactory operation was achieved bythe use of frequency f3 of` almosttwice the middle frequency available from mixer 6, the teachings of this invention oon- 1404 templatefthe choice of a frequency more nearly this/middle frequency when it is desired to further attenuate the. difference frequencies from mixer Sas compared 'with the sum frequencies.

Fig. 3 .shows an embodiment'of this invention incorporating a numberof modifications not shown in Figs. 1 `and`2.V In this embodiment, the circuit 'used with crystals- |5 and electron discharge device 62 is the fTri-tet circuit in which electron discharge device 62 is a tetrode with the :screen grid held at ground radio frequency po- .ments.l5. The cathode of device. 62 is connected to groundv through bias resistance 54 and capacitance55V and tuned circuit 53. The latter circuit comprises coil 58 which is tuned by its own distributedcapacitance to resonate at a frequen- ...cy corresponding' tor one of crystals l5 and is in a near-resonate condi-tion at the frequencies of the other' crystals. Resis-tances' 5l are placed in parallel with the: crystals l5v at which coil 56 provides most-nearly the correct resonant frequency.

fthe; vvalues of theseresistances varying in ac.-

oordance. with thevariations in Voutput vol-tage associated Awith error. between the resonant fre'- quency 'of 'coil..56 and the.Y crystal. chosen. This provides substantially constant voltage at the scontrolelectrode of device` 52 for all positions of switch I6.. ResistanceM acts-asa grid leak when switch i6 is. in position 1. y

Inthezanode circuit of device (i2,A coil 53 is pro:-

vided; toreducethe harmonie components. of outputgvoltageappliedetoa mixerv 6.' g This coil adjusted to offer a large impedance to harmonics of crystals I5, thus to eliminate these harmonics in the voltage across coil 59. Selector switch I8 is arranged to select any one of condensers 6|, these condensers adding to the capacity of condenser 60 to cause resonance with coil 59 at each of the oscillating frequencies of crystals l5.

Electron discharge device 63 acts as an oscillator multiplier. In this circuit, resistance 65 provides overload protection for crystal 24 and bias for the control electrode of device 63, resistance 66 and capacitor 64 provide control electrode bias, unidirectional voltage source 69 and capacitor 18 provide anode-cathode voltage, and resistance 63, condenser 61 and source 63 provide screen grid voltage. Resonant circuit 68a is tuned to approximately the fundamental frequency of crystal 24 to cause oscillations of crystal 24 with the triode portion of device 63 (the cathode, the control electrode, and auxiliary electrode 63a). The output circuit of device 63 is tuned to a particular harmonic of crystal 24 by means of switch 3|, the value of this harmonic being determined by the resonant frequency of the coil-condenser combination 1| selected by switch 3| and the capacity of condenser 12. The values of these components are arranged to cause successive positions of switch 3| to produce signals of frequency varying from the fundamental frequency of crystal 24 to the fourteenth harmonic thereof.

If it is desired to provide a degree of isolation between the crystal 24 and the output circuits of device 63, the tri-tet circuit used in connection with device 62 can, of course, be used.

Switch 38 selects one element of resonant circuits 13 for connection to the control electrode of mixer device 39. The operation of this portion of the system is identical with the corresponding elements in Fig. 2 except that a doubly tuned system incorporating two tuned circuits is employed in elements 13. This provides additional selective action for signals applied to the control electrode of device 39 and thereby further suppresses undesired harmonic components of the output voltage from oscillator-multiplier 94. Condenser 14 provides a constant value of capacitance in one portion of the resonant circuits 13, thereby reducing the size of the required capacitor and inductor in each separate unit.

Signals from oscillator 2 are applied to the injection grid of mixer electron discharge device 39 by means of condenser 15 and resistance 16.

Output signals from device 39 are appliedthrough the voltage divider comprising condensers 11 and 18 and resistance 96 to the control electrode of electron discharge device 19. The tuning system of mixer 6 shown in Fig. 3 accomplishes the same performance as that shown in Fig. 2 but in a somewhat diierent fashion. In Fig. 3 inductances are used to establish both the large frequency changes associated with operation of switches 3|, 38, and 44 and the smaller frequency changes associated with operation of switches i8, I8, and 43. The design of the system is essentially the same, however. With switches I6, i8, 'and 43 in mid-position, inductances 88 and 6l are adjusted to cause exact correspondence between the resonant frequency of the circuit including capacitors 11 and 18, and the distributed capacity of inductances 88 and 8| and the frequency-corresponding to the sum of the frequencies of os- 4cillations from oscillator v2 `and 'multiplier 464. i With switches 3|, 38', and 44 lncposition 2. for-em;-

ponent varies from 766 kc. to 16,166 kc. much as these frequency values are widely sepaexample, coils 82 are then adjusted to provide exact correspondence in these frequencies as switches I6, I8, and 43 are rotated.

In the circuit shown in Fig. 3, only coils 88,

`connected to the first four positions of switch 44,

are connected to coils 82. At the operating frequencies corresponding to the other positions of switches 3|, 38, and 44, it is unnecessary to provide additional change in inductance as switches .|6, I8, and 43 are rotated as satisfactory rejection of unwanted frequencies can be achieved without such change.

It will of course be obvious that unicontrol lmechanism may also be incorporated in the system of Fig. 3 for actuating the various switches I6, I8, 43 and 3|, 38, 44 in the same manner as is indicated schematically in Fig. 2.

The function of cathode follower electron discharge device 19 is to provide a suitable output impedance for connection to coaxial cable 91 and to isolate mixer 6 from other components in the system. Use of this device facilitates location of the above-described units in a remote location as compared with the other units in the system and the main radio receiver. This device develops voltage across resistance 95 which varies in accordance with the oscillations in mixer 6 and is applied to transmission line 91.

Oscillator 81 includes crystal 84 and electron discharge device 83 in the Tri-tet circuit described in connection with oscillator 2. Two

output circuits are provided for this oscillator, each of these having a tuned secondary circuit to provide maximum rejection of undesired frequency components. One of these circuits, 86, is

tuned to the fundamental frequency of crystal 84 'whereas the other circuit, 85, is tuned to the fifth harmonic of that frequency. Hence with crystal 84 having a natural operating frequency of 18,666.66 kc., oscillations of 18,666.66 kc. are produced across circuit 86 and 93,333.33 kc. across circuit 85.

' vMixer 89, using electron discharge device 88 rated it is unecessary to provide a sharply tuned circuit to reject the difference frequency and the broadly tuned circuit 98 may be utilized. Broad tuning of circuit 98 is achieved by tuning the three separate sections to three resonant frequencies near the range of 22,766 kc. to 36,566

kc. as, for example, 22,000 kc., 29,500 kc., and 37,000 kc. This provides a nearly uniform output voltage in mixer 89 over the desired frequency range without the need for a tuning system which must be adjusted as switches I6, I8,

land 43 or 3|, 38, and 44 are changed.

y Mixer 9| utilizes mixer electron discharge device 92 having its control electrode connected to mixer 89 and its injection electrode connected to resonant circuit 85. Inasmuch as the frequency of oscillations at resonant circuit 85 is 93,333 kc., and the frequency of oscillations from mixer 89 varies from 22,766 kc. to 36,566 kc., the sum com- 'ponent of frequency of oscillations in device 92 varies from 116,100 kc. to r129,900 kc. These frequencies produce the desired 8000 kc. to intermediate frequency signals when beating with ap plied signals varying from 108,100 kc. to 121,900 kc. Inasmuch as the difference frequencies in mixer 92 vary from 70,567 kc. to 56,767 kc., an adequate degree of rejection of these frequencies can be achieved by utilizing broadly tuned circuit 93 in mixer 9i. This circuit includes three tuned circuits and is constructed in a manner similar to circuit 90 to provide a nearly uniform output voltage over the frequency range of output signals from mixer 9|.

While I have shown and described particular embodiments of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from my invention in its broader aspects and I therefore aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A multi-frequency oscillation generating system comprising, in combination, a first oscillation source selectively operable to produce one of a plurality of relatively low fixed output frequencies, a second oscillation source selectively operable to produce one of a second plurality of xed output frequencies higher than frequencies from said rst source, a mixer supplied with oscillations from both said sources and including a tunable circuit for selecting a beat frequency, said circuit being conjointly tuned by two reactive tuning elements included respectively within first and second groups of selectable tuning elements, a rst unicontrolled switching mechanism for simultaneously selecting a frequency from said first source and a particular element from said first group, and a second, independent,

unicontrolled switching mechanism for simu1ta neously selecting a frequency from said second source and a particular element from said second group, said selected elements together tuning said circuit to select a desired beat frequency.

2. A multi-frequency oscillation generating system comprising, in combination, a rst oscillation source selectively operable to produce one of n xed output frequencies equally spaced from each other by a frequency difference Af, a second oscillation source selectively operable to produce one of a number of xed frequencies each equal to an integral multiple of nAf, a mixer supplied with oscillations from both said sources and including a tunable circuit for selecting the sum frequency, said circuit being conjointly tuned by two reactive tuning elements included respectively within rst and second groups of selectable tuning elements, a first unicontrolled switching mechanism for selecting a particular frequency from said first source and simultaneously selecting an element from said iirst group, and a second, independent, unicontrolled switching mechanism for selecting a particular frequency from said second source and simultaneously selecting an element from said second group, said selected elements together tuning said circuit to select a desired sum frequency.

ARTHUR G. MANKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,131,558 Granger Sept. 27, 1938 2,248,442 Stocker July 8, 1941 2,265,083 Peterson Dec. 2, 1941 

